It's Raining Men becomes anti-Ukip protest song

Three decades after its original release, the single re-enters the charts thanks to a social media campaign launched in response to David Silvester's remarks that the bad weather is a punishment for its gay marriage laws

The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men has returned to the singles chart in a protest against comments by Ukip councillor David Silvester. With Silvester claiming that the UK's recent bad weather is a punishment for its gay marriage laws, this 1982 hit has danced all the way back into the Top 25.

Three decades after its original release, It's Raining Men sits at No 21 on the midweek singles chart, now less than 40 copies from entering No 20, according to the Official Charts Company. This is a meteoric rise for a campaign launched just over a week ago, and around 15,000 supporters have registered on the crusade's Facebook page. Yesterday, Jeremy Joseph, owner of the London nightclub G-A-Y, pledged a £1,000 donation to the Elton John Aids Foundation if the song cracks the end-of-week Top 20.

All of this is a response to Silvester's open letter to David Cameron, published this month in the Henley Standard. The Henley-on-Thames councillor claimed to have warned the prime minister "that disasters would accompany the passage of his same-sex marriage bill". "It is his fault that large swathes of the nation have been afflicted by storms and floods," he wrote. "This happened in the Old Testament [too] ... They were warned if they turned against God there would be pestilence, there would be war, there would be disasters."

Although Silvester was suspended from the Ukip caucus for his "outlandish remarks", he has vowed to stay on as a town concillor. "I was elected for a four-year term of office, and I have every intention of continuing to work hard for the people of Henley in that capacity," he told the Standard. "If Ukip no longer require my services, my intention will be to serve as an independent."

This month's It's Raining Men campaign has the full support of Martha Wash, the sole surviving member of the original Weather Girls, who has been promoting the cause on Twitter. While Geri Halliwell's version of the song debuted at No 1 in 2001, the disco original only ever reached No 2.